Steering device foe ships



M. SITNEY.

STEERING DEVICE FOR SHIPS.

APPLICATION man AUG-7, 1m.

Patented Oct. 21, 1919.

avweufoz Slim . Tm: COLUMBIA PLANOGRAIH C0 WASHINGTON. D. 6.

- UNITED STATES P TEn OFF-Ion.

MASSEY SITNEY, F BROOKLYN, YORK.

STEERING DEVICE FOR Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented oct. 21, 1919. v

Application filed August 7, 1916. Serial No. 113,598.

To all whom it may concern:

.Be itf known that I, MAssEY SITNEY, a

citizen of the United States of America, and

a resident of Brooklyn, Kings county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steering Devices for Ships, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part thereof.

My invention relates to improvements in steering devices for ships and has for 1ts object to provide means for turning a ship quickly around its vertical center line so as to avoid obstacles in its way or to make it more adaptable for offensive or defensive actions in case-of warships.

A further object i to provide a ship havingv a driving propeller or propellers, in combination with steering propellers, hav ing transverse. shafts nearthe respective ends of the ship and a controller for con-.

-: currently operating the steering propellers as a. couple on opposite sides of th hip so as to produce a very effective turning effort. Other objects and advantages ofmy invention will be set forth hereinafter and I will 7 describe the same with reference to the, accompanying drawings and set forththe novel features thereof in appended claims. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a ship equipped with the steering mechanism of my invention.

Fig. 2is a partially sectional view of the steering mechanism drawnto a larger scale with the controller and circuit connections shown diagrammatically.

.7 secured to the shaft at the respective ends of the sleeve, washers 18 being interposed as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The inner end of the shaft 7 which extends beyond the sleeve 14: haslakey way for slot 19 to lcooperate with a suitable key in a driving gear 20. The. gear'is-rotatively supportedin stationary bearings 22 and is operatively connected to a;driving:motor 21 by pinion 23. The'arrangement of parts is such that when the motor 21 is operated it drives the gear 20 and the shaft 7 without interfering I with the longitudinal movementof the shaft.

The exterior of the sleeve 14 is screwthreaded to cooperate with a nut 12 and is supportedin stationary bearings 13. The nut 12 is rotatively mounted between these bearings as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and is driven bya motor 10, oper ative connection being established by means; of a pinion 11 1 which. meshes with gear teeth on the periphery of the nut.

The sleeve 11 has a key-way or slot 30 to cooperate with keys 31 in the bearings 13 in order to prevent rotation of the sleeve and insure its longitudinal adjustment when. the nut is turned; 5 V 7 Roller bearings 15 may beintroduced-between the nut 12rand the bearings 13 and gear 20' and bearings 22 if desired.

Switch actuating flanges 25 and 28 are; provided on the respective collars 17 and,

are adapted to control limit switches 26 and 27 which are mounted on the stationary fbearings 13. These are arranged'to interrupt the circuit of the motor 10 at the respective ends of the travel of the propeller shaft in an axial direction. U

The ships sides are provided with re cesses 3111 which the propellers are disposed when the steering mechanisms a're not in use, each recess b'eing'provided with a sliding door 4 having projections 5 'to which any suitable actuating mean smay e'applied for opening and closing the 'door;

as shown inFig. area-1110101 810 for the two steering mechanisms are connected toa single circuit 32 and controlled respectively by-switches 33 and 3 1. The motors 21 are also connected to the circuit 32 but are gov'e erned for concurrent operation by a com troller 35. Switches 36 and 37 are providedfor independently governing the motors 21-- bymaking it possible to cut out either motor: as desired. a o

The advantage of the invention howeverfl 1 'isthe ability to operate not only the motors I 10 simultaneously so as to bring both pro-3f pellers into operative positions but also to actuate both of the motors 21 to operate the two propellers at once thereby producing a couple which effectively and very rapidly turns the ship about a. central vertical axis. Furthermore, the four motors may be actuated at once so that the steering effect is obtained before the propellers reach their outside positions.

The steering mechanisms are operated as follows: first the sliding doors are opened (they preferably remain open when the ship is operating in dangerous waters), then the reversible motors 10 are set in operation, by closing the switches 33 and 3 k, and drive the nuts 12 so as to shift the propeller shafts axially and carry the propellers beyond the sides of the ship. The motors will continue to operate until the limit switches 27 are actuated to interrupt the motor circuit.

The reversible motors 21 are operated to drive the propellers in one direction or the other according to the direction in which the ship is to be turned, reversing controller 35 being used for this purpose.

After the steeringorturning operation is completed the mechanisms may be returned to their initial positions by changing the positions of the switches 33 and 34: to reverse the motors 10 which will continue to operate in this direction until the limit switch members 26 are actuated to interrupt the circuit as shownin Fig. 2. I

One of the advantages of my inventlon depends upon the fact that the steering may be effected whether the ship is in operation ing mechanisms hitherto known can be put intooperation.

-Various structural modifications maybe effected within the spirit and scope of my invention and I intend that only such limita- Copies 01 this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of J?atenta.

tions be imposed as are indicated in the appended claims.

l/Vhat I claim is:

1. In combination with a ship provided with recesses in its respective sides near its opposite ends, a steering mechanism in each recess comprising a propeller a propeller shaft.

extending transversely of the ship, a longitudinally adjustable screw-threaded sleeve in which the shaft is rotatively supported, a rotatable nut cooperating with the threaded sleeve, an electric motor for actuating the nut to move the sleeve and the propeller propeller shaft longitudinally, a single switch for governing the motors to produce concurrent adjustment of the propellers, andmeans for driving the propeller shafts without interfering with their longitudinal ad ustments.

3. The combination of a ship having a' driving propeller or propellers, a; steering mechanism comprising asteering propeller, a shaft and a screw-threaded sleeve in which the shaft is rotatively supported, a rotatable nut cooperating with the threaded sleeve, a motor for actuating th nut to move the shaft axially, limit switches for stopping the motor when the propeller shaft approaches the end of its travel and a motor for driving a propeller without interfering with its longitudinal movement.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses this 1st day of August 1916.

MASSEY SITNEY. I

Witnesses:

ALBERT M. LEHMAN, ALEXANDER LERMAN.

Washington, D. G. 

